Releasable door fastener



March 20, 1934. A. HAUFF 1,951,907

RELEASABLE DOOR FASTENER Filed July 16, 1928 0 7 1/ FAN v MW ,7 A5 I'M ,lh m ll A 5 wil Z W 28 30 493/ g g 7 I V INVENTOR efl/f l /aaff Patented Mar. 20, 1934 ITED STATE FFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for controlling and opening the door of a poultry house.

It is the practice to provide a chicken house with a passage through which chickens may free- 1y enter into and go from the house during daylight, and to provide a door for such passage to enable the latter to be closed at other times for the purpose of excluding night prowlerssuch as cats, skunks, etc.

Hitherto the practice has been for the attendant to close and secure the door subsequent to the chickens going into the house to roost, and also for the attendant the following morning to open the door to permit the chickens as soon as possible after leaving the roosts to make their exit into the yard. Because of the early hour which they should be released they are often neglected and are compelled to remain penned in. The object of this invention is to eliminate the inconvenience to the attendant of arising at an extremely early hour in the morning to open the door of a chicken house by the provision of means which is rendered operable by the chickens themselves to efiect the unlatching and opening of the door when they may desire.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational View of the wall of a chicken house with devices embodying my invention applied to a door thereof, said door being shown in its closed relation; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken substantially on line 2 -2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, with the door in its open relation; and Fig. 4 is a detail plan View of the door latch and associated 35 parts shown in the preceding views.

In said drawing, the reference numeral 5 represents, generally, a portion of a wall of a chicken house having therein a chicken-passage 6 between stud or iamb elements 7 and 8 of the wall structure and at an elevation above the plane of the floor 9.

Provided for said passage is a closure, or door, 10 which is illustrated as connected by hinges, such as 11, to the wall thereabove so that the door is openable outwardly.

Said door is arranged to be yieldably held in its open position (Fig. 3) as bymeans of a lever fulcrumed to the stem portion 12 of an attachment 13 which is secured to the jamb '7. One arm 14 of said lever engages in a channel shaped wearing-bar 15 secured to a cleat element 15 of the door, and the other arm 16 of the lever has adjustably mounted thereon a heavy body 17 which influences the lever to normally retain the door in the elevated open position in which it is represented in Fig. 3.

For securing the door in its closed position I provide a latch bar 18 arranged as a lever which is fulcrumed to the stem portion 19 of an attachment 19 which is secured to the jamb 8. One arm 20 of the lever or latch 18 is formed as a hook by the provision in the top thereof of a notch 21 located to the rear of an inclined surface 22 or strike which coacts with a catch or keeper 23 to engage the latter in the latch notch, said keeper being secured to cleat and block elements 24 and 25, respectively, of the door structure.

The other arm 26 of the latch 18 has adjustable thereon a heavy body, in the nature, preferably, of a screw bolt 27 extending through a longitudinal slot 28 of the lever arm 26 and is adjustably coupled thereto between the bolt head 29 and a nut 30 engaging the bolt thread.

31 represents a bracket secured to the stem of attachment 19 and extends, as at 32, below the latch arm 26 to support the latch in its engageable relation with the keeper 23 on the door when the latter is being swung into its closed position. i

To disengage the latch from the keeper, the latch arm 20 is connected by a link 33 with the end 34 of a treadle 35 whose other end 36 may be supported upon the floor 9. The unbalanced weight of the lever arm 26 and that of the counter weight thereon serve to normally retain the end 34 of the treadle in the elevated position, in which shown in Fig. 3, above the floor and which elevation is regulated by the suitable positioning of the bracket 31.

For operating, the attendant from the outside of the house pushes the door closed in opposition to the power of the weighted lever 1416. In closing the door the latch 18 is caused to engage the keeper 23. The door is thus secured in the closed position in which it is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

The door is unlatched by the weight of one or more chickens mounting the treadle 35 causing the end 34 thereof to be forced downwardly together with the arm 20 of the latch-which is connected by means of the link 33 to the treadle, resulting in the disengagement of the latch. When this occurs the lever 14--16 acts to open the door, whereupon the door and the movable r parts associated therewith assume the positions in which they are represented in Fig. 3, with the passage 6 open to the chickens. It is to be noted, by reason of the resistance to movement of the door as the same moves outwardly, that the move- 7.

in its downward travel, especially advantageous in preventing injury to the fowl or in any way frightening them such as to jeopardize the egg output.

What I claim is- 1. In controlling devices for a poultry house door, a latch and a keeper for the latch, said keeper and latch being arranged one with respect to the other to automatically lock the door when the door is in closed position, means acting responsive to the weight of a fowl for effecting disengagement of said latch from the keeper, and gravity actuated means to effect the opening of said door responsive to said disengagement of the latch, said last named means comprising a bar and a stationary member to which said bar is pivoted to provide lever arms for the bar at opposite sides of the pivot, one lever arm of said bar having a weighted end for imparting downward movement to the same, the other lever arm having sliding engagement with the door for opening the same responsive to said downward movement of the weighted arm.

2. In controlling devices for a poultry house door, said door being pivotally connected with the house to swing outwardly and upwardly with re spect to the opening of the poultry house for said door, means for automatically locking said door when the door is in closed position, and means operable by a fowl for rendering said locking means inoperative of a rail secured to and extending vertically of the door, a stationary member, and an operating bar pivotally connected with said stationary member to provide lever arms at opposite sides of the pivot, one of said lever arms being depressibly actuated in response to release of the locking means, the other lever arm being arranged for sliding engagement with respect to the rail to effect said outward and upward swinging movement of the door as the first named lever arm is depressed.

3. In controlling devices for a door, said door being pivotally supported to swing outwardly and upwardly from the opening therefor, means normally acting to lock the door when the door is in closed position over the opening, means for rendering said locking means inoperative and means acting to open the door responsive to said unlocking, said last named means comprising a stationary member, a bar member pivotally supported by said stationary member to provide a lever arm extending from the pivot and arranged for sliding engagement with respect to the door, said lever arm normally extending downwardly at an acute angle with respect to a vertical plane taken through the pivot, and means operative automatically in response to the unlocking of the door for swinging the lever arm upwardly about its pivot toward the horizontal plane of the pivot for opening the door.

ALF HAUFF. 

